


Stars

by denial_four



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Fluff, M/M, fluffy shit man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-12 13:39:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9074368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/denial_four/pseuds/denial_four
Summary: Josh got it. Josh really understood the concept of art, how an artist felt about theirs. He understood. Maybe an angel was his animal after all, because the creativity heavens were opening up in front of Tyler and he was basking in the radiance.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy !

Tyler didn’t know why he was at the party. Hell, he barely knew how he’d even gotten there in the first place.

Well, he did, really. His stupid older brother had promised his mother he’d take him out one night, somewhere nice, to get ‘socialized.’ Because- well, Tyler wasn’t very socialized at all.

Not to other people. He thought he was perfectly okay. He socialized with himself, and with the birds, the mountains. The trees even stopped to talk to him sometimes, if they were in a good enough mood.

Tyler was socialized.

In any case, Ty’s brother had said he’d take him bowling with some lovely people his age. At what point his brother confused ‘bowling’ with ‘party full of drunken 19 year olds and cake-faced girls,’ he didn’t really know.

Zack had left him in the corner of a big living room once he’d seen his friends. Cramming a beer into the small boy’s hands, he’d told him to ‘have fun,’ and ‘look around’- pretending like maybe Tyler would like this situation, even though they both knew for a fact that he would not. Then he’d left, and Tyler had stared mindlessly at the writhing room of people he didn’t know, people he didn’t want to know.

So Tyler, after the initial shock of being abandoned, he’d done what his brother told him. He looked around.

He made his way along the edges of the rooms, winding around the living room, threading himself nervously through couples on the back deck. He’d analyzed them all. Guessed their lucky numbers, matched their face with a colour from his art kit. If he saw anyone particularly interesting, he’d pair them with an animal. Most people here tended to seem like felines, he’d noticed. But there were also a lot of wolves.

He didn’t see anyone interesting enough to draw.

Tyler sighed, sipping at his drink and making a face. Not the best thing he’d had as of late. He discarded the half-empty red cup on a dresser as he weaved through the hall upstairs. Most doors were open a crack, and he rattled them off. Bathroom. Closet. Bathroom. Office.

It only occurred to him that maybe he should turn back, try to walk home, when he spotted a couple heatedly kissing in one of the bedrooms (he’d flattened to the wall almost right away, he really wasn’t interested in seeing any of that), but he pressed forward anyway, hoping maybe he could find Zac, get him to drive him home before he got too drunk.

He didn’t find Zack anywhere, and Tyler genuinely thought he might cry. He might burst into tears in front of all these people he didn’t know, and they’d call him ‘Cryler’ for the rest of his life and he’d give Zack a reputation as ‘the guy with the pussy family.’

That’s how badly he wanted to leave.

But he didn’t leave, because it was dark, and Tyler wanted a _ride_ home, in a _car_ , because Tyler was afraid of the dark. The dark turned the friendly trees into hissing snakes with poison and they turned the chirping birds into scared cries of alarm.

Tyler sank down into a beige armchair in the corner of the room and bit his lip to keep it from trembling.

 _Calm down._ He thought, shaking his head and thinking of what he could do to fix his state.

 _Draw,_ was his first thought, but he didn’t have a pad to work with. It’d have to be in his head. But he hadn’t seen anyone good enough for him. He would work with what he could get.

Tyler looked around the room, letting his fingers tap against the arms of his seat as he began to concentrate. Tigers, dogs, snakes, everywhere. He wanted someone different.

_Aha._

Tyler saw a boy, who didn’t look too much older than him (which was strange, considering this was a seniors’ party, and he was fourteen), with a flash of magenta hair on top of his head, and soft brown doe eyes. His eyes rested on the boy’s face and he studied his mannerisms, trying to find his animal.

Though the boy looked more comfortable than Tyler, Ty could see he’d rather be somewhere else. He idly smiled and nodded his head, laughing quietly at points in the conversation nearby when prompted- but he always looked back to the floor, fidgeting his fingers together.

He couldn’t find his animal.

Tyler skipped that step and began painting him instead.

Tyler used acrylics. Because the boy looked like a bright flash in a cruel world, and Tyler wanted to be able to catch that, catch all the jagged edges on his body as well as the softness of his face. He lined him in black, but he filled him in, mostly the colour of his hair. Magenta, a rich neon shade of pink, with lilac highlights and blue tinted eyes.

Then he paused, and he stepped back from his canvas, and he tilted his head to study him again. His eyes locked against his fingers, which had begun tapping a steady beat. Though, one more complicated than Tyler would ever be able to keep. Soon enough his toes joined in, and the freshman was intrigued.

He wanted to talk to him so badly. A name to a face would find his animal, for sure, right? And it would definitely help him decide how to paint the curvature of his collarbones. If he could get closer.

Tyler had never been more nervous to do anything in his life. But he stood. He could always blame it on alcohol. Chances were, he’d never see this boy again anyways. And- there was the chance, the boy’s crowd had moved away, leaving him alone. Tyler gulped and walked over.

The magenta boy looked up and blinked his wide doe eyes before smiling at Tyler, making his brown gaze scrunch into his cheeks and multiply by ten.

“Hey there.” He offered, watching Tyler, who was now standing in front of him. But Tyler didn’t answer. He was frozen. Is an angel an animal? Maybe his animal was an angel. No, Tyler, an angel isn’t an animal. Maybe- he was a swan. Or- a horse?

Tyler quickly sketched in the points of the boy’s collarbones before coming to his senses and finally speaking, voice just loud enough to be heard above all the others.

“Hi- um, I’m Tyler.” He said in return, then kicked himself. How fucking lame. He nearly opened his mouth to apologize for bothering him and to leave, but the boy answered.

“Tyler. I’m Josh, nice to meet you.” Tyler’s shoulders sagged slightly in relief that he’d actually successfully started a conversation, and then his ears began to buzz at the sound of Josh saying his name, and then at Josh’s name. Tyler mentally titled his painting (Project: Josh, the Angelic Horse-Swan).

“Uhh-“ Tyler trailed off then, and the floor fell out into the black hissing snakey trees. He’d wrecked it because he wasn’t properly socialized. Oh god. His mother was right.

“What brings you here? Because, well I dunno why you’ve got no friends around ya, you seem nice. But kinda young though, ah- How old are you?”

Tyler blinked at the rapid-fire. Well- rapid to him. Was this how fast conversations were supposed to go? He started to answer Josh in a string.

“Well, my brother wanted to come to the party, and he told my mom ( _Mom? Tyler, that was the worst thing you could’ve said to this guy. Way to be fucking lame._ ) that he’d take me somewhere… So he just kinda, dumped me I guess. And uhh- I’m thirteen. No, fourteen. Sorry. I forgot what year it was.”

Josh watched Tyler for a second. And Tyler watched Josh, feeling the hair on his neck prick him as his face heated up, his body’s form of punishing him for being so awful.

But then Josh started to laugh, and it went away.

It wasn’t a laugh making fun of him, either, like Tyler had always known. It was like he could _feel_ Josh laughing _with_ him. It was nice. Tyler started to laugh too.

When they both finished laughing, Tyler spoke again, more confident this time.

“I like your hair.”

He watched Josh raise a hand to grasp self-consciously at his curls. _Curls_. Tyler made a mental note to paint his hair more wildly the next time.

“Thanks! I like yours.” Tyler laughed and hesitantly took the chair next to Josh, looking over at him again before answering.

“I didn’t do anything to mine.” He answered, smiling and shaking his head.

“So? It still suits you.” Josh reached out and tugged a piece of Tyler’s rowdy hair back into place, making the back of his neck heat up again and his spine jolt.

“Thank you.” Josh nodded in response, yawning slightly before opening his mouth to answer. Tyler interrupted him.

“You’re a zebra, aren’t you? No, too black and white, I think you’re a horse. That’s what I’d thought earlier, when I saw you, you know- social, but they still like to be quiet, and they’re all unique coloured? You’re a palomino.”

Josh stared at him and blinked, Tyler wanted to shrink into his chair once he realized what he did. He wanted to leave the world and never come back. What the fuck was wrong with him? He should go home. But soon enough Josh was shrugging, nodding, and speaking his language. To some degree.

“Hm. Yeah, maybe, that’s pretty cool you think that. I think you’re a C sharp. Ooh, played on a piano. Quiet. Not too quiet though, probably just pianissimo. And maybe your harmony is on a guitar. Two string instruments, but different, you know? And not exactly a C, not perfect, just a little bit off from the centre, because you’re different.”

They met each other’s eyes and smiled.

“C sharp.” Tyler echoed. Josh nodded.

“Palomino?” Tyler smiled wider, letting his teeth show slightly. This prompted Josh’s quiet, bubbly giggle to form in his chest, making Tyler soar as Josh asked the next question.

“You’re an artist then? What do you do, paint? Draw? I just do music, I don’t know anything about art, but-“

Tyler answered quickly.

“I do everything. Mostly, I paint, it’s my favourite- but I sketch too, and do charcoal- sometimes I sculpt, but only if it’s for a class or something, I usually only like paper. Like, the thick kind. That kind is the best.”

Tyler had gotten excited about his art again. But this time, instead of his face heating up at the long speech he’d given- he just wanted to wrap himself in the accepting expression Josh was focusing onto him.

“Dude that’s super cool. What kind of things do you- paint?”

“Everything. I even- paint in my head, a lot. If I can’t spare time.”

“Did you paint anything today?” Tyler didn’t hesitate before answering.

“I painted you.”

The silence that hung between them wasn’t heavy, but it wasn’t comfortable. Josh looked utterly intrigued, surprised even. Which was something Tyler hadn’t yet seen on Josh ( _Note to self: Josh’s eyebrows lift when he’s surprised. The left one a millimetre more than the right._ ). But he just waited for an answer, which came soon after Josh noticed his uncomfortable leg shift.

“Was it good?”

Tyler paused this time, thinking of how best to explain art to a musician. He didn’t know. So he just let his words fall out, because Josh seemed to understand so far.

“I painted you in acrylic. Because you’d pop out of the page better. And- I outlined you real dark, but I highlighted you in purple. A really light one. And your eyes shined blue.”

Josh looked stunned, even if he wasn’t really seeing the art.

“Tyler, that’s really amazing. Wish I could see it. You should-“ Josh cleared his throat slightly, suddenly more awkward, suddenly nervous. Tyler watched him intently. This was strange, too, something else new. Josh glanced down before finishing. “If you, really painted me sometime, I’d want you to show me. I mean- if… you wanted. You’re the artist.”

Josh got it. Josh really understood the concept of art, how an artist felt about theirs. He understood. Maybe an angel was his animal after all, because the creativity heavens were opening up in front of Tyler and he was basking in the radiance.

“I want to paint you sometime.” Tyler blurted, making Josh focus on him again. “It’d be, really good, because- you have a lot of colours, and your hair would be really bright- but curvy, and your eyes are really soft, but they fill up your face.  But, if I painted you smiling… it’d be different. Well- the feeling you’d get when, you look at the painting at the end- if I did it right, the way I think I would- would be the best part.”

Josh’s interest looked permanently piqued. He continued tapping his invisible drum beat against the wooden arm of his uncomfortable-looking chair. But Josh himself didn’t look uncomfortable at all. In fact, as he frowned slightly in curiosity and leaned over towards Tyler to hear him better, he looked quite the opposite.

“What do you mean? What feeling is that?”

Tyler didn’t know how to explain that Josh looked like the bursting of a thousand balloons, and he didn’t know how to explain that his hands looked like the beautiful curves of a calligraphy pen, or that his eyes looked like mirrors to a different world. His mouth went dry. He was looking over Josh’s face, his mind hyperactive, as he added last minute details to his painting (and changed the title to, Project: Josh, the Pink-ish Palomino) and searched for an explanation. He didn’t think of words.

He couldn’t explain.

Maybe he could show him?

Tyler stood up.

“Come with me.”

Josh and Tyler stood side by side at the edge of the river across from the house, buzz of the party just far enough behind them so that they could have some peace.

“Look at the stars.” Tyler prompted. Josh did, squinting slightly, because he didn’t know what to look for. But he’d see it when it happened.

“Just wait.” Tyler added, and then he saw the first one. It disappeared before Josh could see, but Tyler stepped up behind him and lifted his chin so he would see the next one when it came around. Tyler ignored the heat rising against his face at being this close to Josh, who understood him. At the hum in the pit of his stomach, or the blanket of calm (and excitement, at the same time) that set over him- because when Josh saw it, the expression on his face made everything perfect.

“A shooting star!” Josh blurted out excitedly, grinning and watching the night sky with a wide, toothy smile on his face. Tyler watched the constellations reflect in his eyes, making a mental note to add a portrait of Josh, like this, to his collection.

When Josh looked over at Tyler again, the younger boy’s hands still resting against one side of his face and his other shoulder, everything changed again. The same stars that had just reflected off of his face were now bursting in front of Tyler, leaving him so dazed that his next words came in a whisper. But it was okay, because he was almost certain that Josh was feeling what he was. He had to be.

“That’s what it’ll feel like.”

There was a moment, and then a break, and then Josh’s lips were pressed against his, soft but hard, shy but confident. Just like Josh. And Tyler thought he was going to melt. Fortunately for him, Josh actually knew how to kiss- and Ty’s hands were already touching him anyway, which made it at least a little easier. And it wasn’t awkward at all, like everything else new Tyler tried. It was rather beautiful. Like the leftover stars that weren’t ready to fall, had landed right between their lips as they’d touched.

When they pulled apart, it wasn’t awkward either. Everything else blurred away into the background, and it was just them, the sound of the river, and the sky. Even the darkness of the outside at night was blocked from Tyler at the moment, because Josh’s hand was laced into his, and soon they were giggling quietly at each other, C sharp meeting Palomino in a haze.

“Ty, if you let me see a painting that feels like what just happened, I’ll give you a drive home right now.”

“Josh I don’t think I’ve ever painted anything that feels like that, sorry to disappoint.”

“Well… can you let me use your bathroom when we get there?” Tyler started to laugh.

“I think that can be arranged?”

“Then deal, let’s go.”


End file.
